EPA ADVISERS FIGHT DIVERSION OF RESEARCH FUNDS TO SECURITY PROJECTS

EPA's science advisers are criticizing the agency's proposed fiscal year 2007 research budget, which cuts funding on air pollution and toxic chemicals and increases funds for homeland security research. In a March 30 letter to EPA, the Science Advisory Board (SAB) used unusually strong language to warn that EPA's research and development resources were "grossly inadequate" and called the budget cuts a "serious impediment" to EPA's mission. The SAB raised concerns that EPA's homeland security research initiatives appear to be...